Tampa Bay is 0-3, its quarterback dislocated his throwing thumb, and the man starting Sunday against Green Bay went undrafted five months ago. That is the situation Todd Bowles is coaching through.
Baker Mayfield dislocated his right thumb in the Week 3 loss to Minnesota. Imaging brought the only good news of the week: no fracture, no ligament or tendon damage.
Bowles said Mayfield is out a minimum of three weeks, which puts the earliest possible return in Week 7 against Carolina. He did not practice Wednesday or Thursday.
Be Careful With the Timeline You Read
Numbers between two and eight weeks have circulated. The figure that came from the head coach is three weeks minimum, and that is the one worth trusting. Bowles described the imaging as “consistent with everything we thought it was.”
Who Jalon Daniels Is
Daniels is 23, undrafted out of Kansas, and makes his first NFL start Sunday. His college career ran six years, and as a senior he threw for 2,531 yards with 22 touchdowns and seven interceptions while adding 404 rushing yards and four scores.
Bowles is not pretending this is ideal, but he is not hedging either. “Well it’s going to be like every other rookie, but he’s played well in the preseason,” he said. “He’s very bright. He’s not going to be out there by himself. There will be 22 other guys out there helping him out. So, we’re just expecting him to do his job, play at a high level, as he expects from himself.”
Daniels has been leaning on the guy he replaced. By his account Mayfield told him to stay composed and play as himself. “You’ve been dreaming of this opportunity,” Daniels relayed. “Just stay composed, play as yourself, don’t try to be anybody else besides yourself, and just go out there and go make football plays.”
His own summary: “This is a dream come true.”
An ESPN Insider Made It Harder
Daniels spent his first week as a starter at the center of a media controversy he had nothing to do with.
During a segment in which Ian Rapoport cited Daniels’ East-West Shrine Bowl performance, ESPN’s Jeff Darlington replied: “With all due respect, you lost me at the East-West Shrine Bowl Game.”
The clip was posted by NFL Network’s account and then deleted. The backlash was immediate and came with names attached. Shrine Bowl director Eric Galko told Darlington he “should get with the times.” Draft analyst Anthony Russo called it an “absolutely stupid comment” and said Darlington should apologize. Pro Football Network CEO Matt Cannata called it “incredibly disrespectful to Jalon Daniels, the Shrine Bowl, and every player, coach, and support staff.”
Darlington has not responded publicly. The game has been running since 1925 and has produced a long list of Hall of Famers, which is the part critics kept returning to.
It is a bad look, and it handed Daniels the exact motivation he did not need to manufacture.
The Supporting Cast Is Thin
Chris Godwin Jr. is the one upgrade. He did not practice Wednesday with an ankle issue, then went full Thursday, and should be the primary target.
Jalen McMillan is on injured reserve with a PCL sprain, out at least four games and possibly up to eight weeks. That leaves Godwin, Emeka Egbuka and rookie Ted Hurst III as the receiving corps.
Tampa Bay also signed Brett Rypien to the practice squad as quarterback insurance.
Bowles Is the One Under Real Pressure
An 0-3 team starting an undrafted rookie is not making the playoffs, and the conversation has already moved to the coach’s job security.
That is unfair in the narrow sense, because Bowles did not dislocate Mayfield’s thumb or sprain McMillan’s knee. It is also how this works. If Daniels plays well, Bowles bought himself weeks. If Sunday goes badly against Green Bay, nothing about the injury report will protect him.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
